


Queen of Flowers, Queen of Fields

by spilladrop4orpheus



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: F/M, Hades/Persephone angst, Orpheus being adorable, Young Orpheus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:00:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22474504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spilladrop4orpheus/pseuds/spilladrop4orpheus
Summary: Before Eurydice, there was another woman Orpheus said he was going to marry.Now, before you grab the pitchforks, just know that Orpheus was a little kid once with a bit of a crush on a certain Lady.
Comments: 22
Kudos: 95





	Queen of Flowers, Queen of Fields

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as just sweet little Orpheus fluff, but me being me...I accidentally kept adding Hades/Persephone angst. Whoops.

As Persephone waited for Hermes to pour her another drink, she glanced around the bar looking for familiar faces. Finding none in the early afternoon crowd, her eyes settled on a boy sitting in the corner writing in a small notebook. She had caught him staring at her before he turned his attention back to his notebook. He couldn’t have been more than 10 if even that.

“Either I’m getting old or your patrons are getting younger,” she said to Hermes as she tilted her head in the boy’s direction.

“You’re old, sister. Older than the dirt you plant those flowers in.” Hermes gave her a teasing smile as he set her drink in front of her.

“I ain’t _that_ old. And you’re one to talk. You’re no spring chicken either.”

“Maybe so. But at least we ain’t as old as that man of yours down below.”

“Pfft. No one is. He was born old. Probably refused to even come out until his mama filed the proper paperwork.” Persephone’s braying laughter filled the bar. She stopped and frowned when she noticed Hermes hadn’t joined in at her joke. “So what’s with the kid? You running a daycare now? Babies and Booze?”

“His mama is a friend of mine. I look after him sometimes when she isn’t around.”

Persephone gave him a curious look. “What kind of friend?”

“Just a friend. She’s a muse,” he said as if that were the only explanation needed.

“I see. That’s gotta be tough on him.” Persephone knew how those muses were. “Cute kid though.” She smirked. “He yours?”

Hermes shook his head. “No, not one of mine. But I like the boy. The bar isn’t the best place for a child, but it’s certainly better than him fending for himself.”

“You’re a good man, Hermes. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.” She raised her glass to him before finishing it off. “I’ll have another, please.”

He gave her a disapproving look but poured her another drink anyway.

***

Persephone was halfway through her fifth drink when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around ready to let loose on whatever unsuspecting traveler dared to disturb her. The locals knew better. If she wasn’t singing and dancing, leave her be because she wasn’t in the mood for entertaining.

She was surprised to see the young boy from the corner standing next to her.

“What’s your name?” He asked as he looked up at her perched on her bar stool. He was a scrawny thing, but he still had that round babyface.

“Persephone. What’s yours?”

“I’m Orpheus. You’re the most beautiful lady I’ve ever seen.”

Persephone smiled at his boldness. When she had felt the tap on her shoulder, she had anticipated getting hit on, but not quite like this. The boy was a sweet change from the usual drunkards who had too much liquid courage and grand ideas about the Goddess of Springtime.

“Thank you. You’re quite a handsome young man yourself.”

His cheeks turned bright red as he smiled. “I’m gonna marry you.”

It seems he was bolder than she thought. There was a sincerity to him though. She couldn’t help but smile at how precious he was with his confident little grin and those big, hopeful eyes.

Before she could respond, Hermes stepped in.

“You can’t just go around telling people you’re gonna marry them.”

“Why not?” Orpheus asked earnestly.

Hermes just stared at the curious child. He was still trying to figure out how to parent the boy in his mother’s absence and the constant questions were exhausting. “You just can’t. Besides, Lady Persephone already has a husband, Mr. Hades.”

“Oh.” Disappointment washed over his face. He climbed on to the barstool next to Persephone so they were close to eye level. “Why aren’t you with him?”

“Orpheus!” Hermes tried to intervene again. He knew the boy meant well, but his intrusive questions were bound to cause problems, especially if they had Persephone thinking about Hades. Those kinds of thoughts and the drinking were a minefield of trouble that Hermes tried hard to avoid. But Orpheus was too young to notice the sadness that flickered in Persephone’s eyes at his question.

“Because I have work to do,” Persephone answered. She glanced down at her glass. Yeah, she was really working hard, wasn’t she?

“Well, why isn’t he here with you then?”

Why, indeed. She could barely pull that man away from his desk sometimes, never mind get him to come up top for a visit. “He’s got work to do too. We’ll see each other again soon.” Too soon. Not soon enough. She took another drink. Whenever he came to bring her back home it always seemed to be both.

Another question from the inquisitive child pulled her out of her thoughts.

“This Mr. Hades...how’d he get you to marry him?”

Hermes laughed. “Now that is a question that has plagued all of Olympus for ages.”

“Oh, you be quiet!” Persephone brushed Hermes off as she thought back to that day in her mother’s garden as her eyes glistened with unshed tears. It was one of the happiest days of her life, and yet the memory of it caused an ache deep within her chest. They had been so happy then, so young and in love. It had all happened so fast and neither one of them seemed to give a thought to the consequences of their romance at the time. They were so consumed with each other that nothing else mattered. Sometimes she wondered if they would have done things differently had they known how it would all turn out. She liked to think they’d both go through it all over again despite current circumstances, but she couldn’t help the doubts that swirled in the back of her mind.

Orpheus was staring at her intently, waiting for an answer to his question. It wasn’t any one thing that Hades had done. It was a multitude of things that got her to marry him. Everything really. Every smile, every laugh, it all pulled her in. The way he looked at her like she was the most precious thing in the world. The way he reverently said her name in that gravelly voice of his. By the time he actually spoke the words, it didn’t matter what he said, she was already his.

She’d keep her answer simple for the boy. “One day he said, ‘come home with me’ and I did.” Her voice faltered a little as she tried to maintain her composure.

Hermes took note of her wistful tone and knew she had taken a stroll down memory lane, and when she returned there’d be hell to pay.

“That’s it? Come home with me?” Orpheus asked.

She chuckled a little. “Well, he also asked if he could lay m—”

“Ahem.” Hermes shot her a glare before she could finish that sentence.

“Uh…lay a crown on my head.” Persephone looked to Hermes who nodded in approval. She was not used to having to filter her thoughts for such a young audience. “To make me a queen.”

“Oh.” Once again the boy looked disappointed. “I don’t have a crown to give anyone.”

“That’s alright, sweetheart. What do you want to get married for anyway?”

“Because if you marry someone then they won’t ever leave you.”

_Not always_ , she thought bitterly. _I keep leaving him over and over again._ She chugged the rest of her drink, trying to drown out the guilt.

“You’ll love each other forever and never be apart,” Orpheus added, unintentionally pouring salt in the wound.

The alcohol had a way of loosening her tongue, though she was never one to keep quiet anyway. It was so tempting to unleash all of her thoughts on this poor kid. Tell him that marriage wasn’t all it was made out to be. That you could love someone more than anything in this world and still find ways to hurt them. And they’d find ways to hurt you. Being married didn’t solve all your problems like in some fairy tale. Love wasn’t always enough.

But then she looked into his wide, innocent eyes. He had been abandoned by his mother who knows how many times and he still held on to hope. Hope that love was the answer and that it was all you needed to keep someone with you. She couldn’t be the one to crush his spirits. The world was harsh enough. Let him go on seeing how the world could be for just a little bit longer. One day he would have to see how it really is, but she didn’t want that day to be today.

“Honey, you don’t need to marry someone just yet. You’re young. You’ll find someone special when you’re older. In the meantime, you’ve got Mr. Hermes. He’ll always be there when you need him. And I’m here. I may leave, but I always come back.” _Hear that Hades? I’ll always come back!_ She couldn’t tell if her last thought was a promise to return to him or a threat that she’d always leave him. The way she was feeling, she decided it was probably both.

“But how will I know when I find someone special?”

“Oh, you’ll know.” She thought back to what it was like when she first met Hades. “You’ll see them and everything else just stops. When you talk to them it’ll seem like you’ve known them forever. It’ll be clear as day that they’re yours and you’re theirs and they’ll become your whole world.” _Until life gets complicated and everything goes to shit._

“So then I say come home with me and we’ll get married?”

Hermes let out a sigh. “You need to get to know someone first before you ask them to marry you.”

“But Lady Persephone said it’d be like I’ve always known them. So if I’ve always known them, we can get married.”

Hermes turned his attention to Persephone. “Do you see what you’ve done?”

“Seems like sound logic to me.” Persephone shrugged before leaning in towards Orpheus. “Listen to me. Mr. Hermes means well, but take it from someone who knows. When it comes to matters of the heart, you tell someone. Don’t hesitate. If I didn’t tell Mr. Hades how I felt, well he’d probably still be fussing and trying to work up the courage to ask me to marry him. When someone you’ve got your eye on sees that big ol’ heart you wear on your sleeve—” She gave his shirt sleeve a gentle tug— “They’ll fall for you like that.” She snapped her fingers. “And if they don’t, then they don’t deserve you and good riddance.”

Orpheus smiled at her words. “You really think so?”

She crinkled her eyes and nose at him as she nodded. “I know so.” She took one finger and bopped him on the nose causing him to giggle.

“Before you go planning your wedding there, Orpheus, why don’t you go finish up your chores in the back.”

“Yes, Mr. Hermes.” Orpheus jumped down off the barstool. “Thank you, Lady Persephone.” He turned to go but stopped suddenly and spun back around. “But if you ever do need a new husband...” He grinned big and bright as he gestured to himself. “Remember I’m available…for now.”

She laughed before kissing the top of his head.

His cheeks reddened again before he skipped towards the back room.

“That child doesn’t walk anywhere. He’s always running and bouncing around,” Hermes said.

“He’s adorable. You better watch out for that one. In a few years, he’s gonna have all the girls…and boys going crazy.”

“You don’t think he’s a little...unusual?”

“A little, but ain’t nothing wrong with that. He’s very charming and sincere. Us ladies eat that right up. I wouldn’t be surprised if he breaks a few hearts in his day, before making someone very happy.”

“If he plays his cards right, maybe you.” Hermes smiled. He loved to give Persephone a hard time and he was one of the few people who could do it without fear of retribution.

“Oh, stop.”

“Maybe I tell that husband of yours that he better watch out because he’s got some competition now. He might start treating you a little better. Treat you the way you deserve.”

Persephone shot him a look. “You better not. You know he’s just jealous enough to take it seriously. The man has it out for the sun, don’t think he’s above feeling threatened by a child.”

“The way Apollo looks at you, your man should be concerned about the sun. It sure shines brighter during the months you are up here, few as they may be lately.”

Persephone rolled her eyes. “Maybe you should mind your business.”

“You make it my business when you come in here crying or yelling or both about whatever it is your husband has done this time.”

“I don’t do that…too much. He treats me no different than I treat him. I ain’t the poor mistreated wife in this situation. I give just as good as I get. We’re just...going through some things right now.”

“Mmm hmm. Been going through some things for some time now.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “And how’s your love life going these days?”

Hermes focused intently on the glass he was washing, ignoring her attempt to change the subject.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Stick to serving drinks instead of your opinion on other people’s relationships. Speaking of…I’ll have another.” She raised her empty glass. “And make it a double.”

***

That evening, Hermes went to turn out the light in the small room the boy was staying in. “Goodnight, Orpheus!”

“Mr. Hermes, will you tell me more about Lady Persephone?”

Hermes smiled. “You still planning on marrying her?”

“No, but I want to write a song for her.”

Orpheus was a good kid. Hermes found himself growing fonder of the boy the more he spent time with him. He couldn’t understand why his mother would keep leaving him.

“That’d be very nice. I think she’d really like that.”

“She looks real sad sometimes. I just want to make her smile. I don’t know Mr. Hades, but he must be sad too. I would be if I had a wife and I couldn’t be with her.”

Hermes thought the two lovesick rulers of the Underworld were hopeless, but if anything could help them, maybe it would be the boy’s song. Orpheus had a giftwith music and if he could use that gift on Hades and Persephone, maybe it could set some things right again.

“I think if you wrote a song, it’d make both of them very happy. Why don’t I tell you about when they first met?”

Orpheus listened intently as Hermes began to tell a tale of love and how it made the world go round.

**Author's Note:**

> After seeing Living It Up On Top, I've always had this headcanon that Orpheus has a big ol' harmless crush on Persephone. I mean, who doesn't?


End file.
